City to boost ‘Be Vietnamese Buy Vietnamese’ campaign

The National Steering Committee for the ‘Be Vietnamese Buy Vietnamese’ campaign met on April 11 to discuss implementation of the campaign in 2012 and find ways to encourage Vietnamese people to buy more domestically made products.

Nguyen Thi Thu Ha, Party Central Committee member and Deputy Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, presided over the meeting.

The committee intends to continue to popularise the campaign as per Party Politburo guidelines and advise provincial Party Committees on its implementation.

At the meeting on April 11, many participants said that the campaign had so far contributed greatly to increasing the value of retail domestically made goods in 2011.

Le Cong Dong, deputy head of the Department of Propaganda and Training under the city Party Committee said that in April, HCMC will conduct a survey to measure consumer confidence of domestically made goods. The survey will last until July.

According to Nguyen Thi Hong, deputy chairwoman of the City People’s Committee, the campaign’s main target is to promote made-in-Vietnam goods in markets. Public agencies, enterprises and local residents must support the campaign as well as strengthen inspection of markets and punish violators, so as to protect legitimate interests of local manufacturers.

Many manufacturers have to deal with counterfeit goods that have been illegally imported into Vietnam through various channels, she added.

Ha said that the city will create advantageous conditions to help local businesses to raise production and subsequently reduce prices for consumers.

She also said that businesses and producers should focus on upgrading their technology and management infrastructure to produce high quality products with good design at low prices. In addition, it is necessary to set up a distribution network and after-sale services, she added.

A report by the Steering Committee said that the campaign had contributed to increasing the value of retail domestically made goods in 2011 to over VND2004 trillion (US$95 billion), up by 24.2 per cent against the previous year.

The campaign has also changed the attitudes of people and businesses’ towards Vietnamese made products. Many domestic businesses are now focused on developing their distribution network, not o¬nly in shopping malls and supermarkets, but also in traditional rural markets.